Q: How is it going to be for you emotionally or psychologically when Lundqvist comes back? Will any part of you be frustrated?A: No. It’s hard to be frustrated when it was inevitable, I guess you could say, that no matter how well I played or didn’t play, he was gonna be in the net again. So, I mean, I always knew that going into it, I was just trying to make the best of the situation, and kinda showcase what I can do as the starting goalie for however long it was gonna be.

Q: Do you believe you’re a No. 1 goaltender now?A: I believe given the opportunity, I think, yeah, I think that I would be able to handle the load based on how I’ve played with the starting goalie workload in the past month-and-a-half.

Q: Do you think you’ve opened enough eyes for people to believe you’re a No. 1 goaltender?A: I don’t know. That’s not really for me to say or not say, I don’t think. I mean, that’s more on your end (chuckle). I think that I’ve played pretty well in the opportunity that I’ve been given. I like to hope that maybe somewhere down the line, some team might think that I’m capable of carrying the load like I’ve been carrying lately. I just kinda hope that maybe people have taken notice of what I’ve done in the past 20-25 games and so.

Q: What’s the biggest thing you’ve picked up over the years watching Lundqvist?A: I think his work ethic. His work ethic and his mentality on the ice, you can tell he just hates getting scored on, whether it’s in practice, in the game. …If he gets scored on once, he’ll make him do it again and again until he makes that save, so you can see the reason he is one of the best goalies in the league. …He’s just a competitor.

Henrik LundqvistBill Kostroun

Q: How would you describe your on-ice mentality?A: I’d have to say about the same. I’m a little bit more laidback, but I hate to get scored on, too. I think you kinda have to have the mentality that you hate to lose more than you like to win kinda thing. If I get scored on, especially at the end of a drill, I’ll make them do the drill again until I make the save before I get out of the net. It can’t end on a goal. I hate that. I kinda have the same mentality as Hank there.

Q: Describe your goaltending style.A: I’d have to say I’m like a big, patient goalie. I don’t try to over challenge shooters, I just kinda play within myself … try to stay as square and as patient as possible. And just do my best to make the first save, and when you make the first save, I try to be in the best position possible to still be able to make the second save as well.

Q: Now that you’re reaching celebrity status, are you recognized around town?A: No, not really. I mean. I can still take the subways and no one even takes a second look at me really, so luckily I can still fly under the radar.

Q: You like it that way?A: I do, yes. I don’t really like the attention here — the media interviews and that kinda stuff. I’m not that guy. I just like to go about my business, and just play.

Q: How do you balance how fun a job you have versus dealing with the pressure on a goalie?A: I think of it as like it’s a game, but if you put too much pressure on yourself, you’re taking your mind out of it completely already. I’m a pretty laidback guy. I’m pretty calm and stuff like that. I don’t get too stressed out. I don’t know, it might be different for me than some goalies, but I try not to put too much pressure on myself, because then I start to over think things and stuff like that. For me, it’s like I love coming to the rink every day. It’s just fun for me to be able to do this for a living, to be able to come to the rink every day and hang out with the guys and do what I love for a living. [I] just try not to put too much pressure myself and overthink things, just go out there and play.

Q: Was there a time in your career that you did put too much pressure on yourself and overthink things?A: Right when I left college, I went to the AHL and stuff like that, and you start to overthink things a little bit, like, “Oh, am I gonna be able to compete at this level?”…The same thing when I made the jump to New York, like you get to your first practice, the first couple shots maybe get by you, and you start to think, “OK, now I gotta put the pressure on myself, I gotta step the next one,” and the next one goes in. You start to overthink things a little bit: “Am I good enough to play here?”…So there’s always points in your career where you start to second-guess yourself, but then you just have to, kinda like I said, stop overthinking things so much and just go out there and play.

Q: On the flip side of that, what’s your mindset when you feel like you’re in the kind of zone that you’re in now?A: It feels great, I feel confident, I feel comfortable in the net. I go out there thinking that it’s gonna have to be like a really good shot to beat me kinda thing. I mean, there’s some points where you’re not playing so well where you’re just kinda battling out there. Right now, like when I’m on a run like this, just confident, patient, and being really comfortable with how the guys are playing in front of me now and how I play personally.

Q: What drives you?A: I think a little bit of trying to prove that I can play, prove that I can make it, because I was never drafted into the OHL, the NHL. That kinda stuff drives me just because I was always passed over in every single opportunity. So I just always worked harder to be better the next year, be better the next year, and I just kept working harder and harder summer after summer, season after season, just trying to prove people wrong.

Cam TalbotBill Kostroun

Q: So you still have that chip on your shoulder?A: A little bit, yeah. It doesn’t feel great, especially when…you get passed over a couple of years [by the OHL], and then I don’t get drafted in the NHL either. You can either lose faith in it or you can just work harder and say you’re gonna prove people wrong, and that’s what I continued to do.

Q: What’s it like playing goal behind this Rangers team?A: It’s a lot of fun. We have probably one of the best defensive corps in the league, I believe. You can sub any of our six guys between the first and third period, it wouldn’t matter.

Q: How do you enjoy playing in New York?A: I love playing in New York. The fans are great, being able to play at MSG in one of the most famous arenas of all time, it’s pretty special to be able to play in a city like this for an Original Six team with so history. It’s an amazing feeling to be a part of a team and an organization like this, a really first-class organization.

Q: How would you describe Rangers fans?A: Passionate, definitely. They’re unbelievable when things are going well. They can also get on you sometimes when things aren’t going so well, that’s just how much they love the team, so they’re definitely one of the most passionate fan bases that there is in the NHL.

Q: Who is a better dresser, you or Lundqvist?A: (Chuckle) I think I’d have to go with Hank on that one. The guy’s in GQ and stuff like that, so I don’t think I can compete with that.

Q: Why did you sign originally with the Rangers as a free agent?A: There was only two, maybe three teams that had contacted me out there, so I didn’t really have a whole lot of options between New York, Philadelphia and maybe Columbus, but I think they might have dropped out at the end. Basically what it came down to was Benoit Allaire. He’s got an unbelievable reputation as most people know, or kinda call him the goalie guru, so I figured who better to learn from coming out of college than one of the best goalie coaches?

Q: And he taught you how to stay back in the net, right?A: Yeah, I was a little bit more aggressive coming out of college, and he kinda pulled me back a little bit. I used to play with a lot of athleticism and stuff like that [more] than I do now. Now I’m a little bit more patient, a little bit more positionally sound.

Derek JeterReuters

Q: Who are athletes in other sports you admire?A: Roger Federer; Tom Brady; Derek Jeter — the way he played the game and seemed to be able to stay out of the spotlight even though he was one of the biggest athletes in the world.

Q: What was your Alabama-Huntsville college experience like?A: It was a lot of fun. Definitely a bit of a culture shock at first down there. We had a lot of travel so we spent a lot of time on the buses and stuff like that, that’s for sure, so it kinda got you ready for the pro hockey.

Q: Did you go to Alabama football games?A: We did, yeah. We went to one Alabama game, one Auburn game while I was there, and one game in Ole Miss.

Q: Boyhood idol?A: Patrick Roy.

Q: Why?A: He was great, and I became a goalie. He always seemed to have his big games when the team needed it most, and I thought that like that’s the kind of goalie that like I wanted to be — when the game’s on the line, that I always come up big, and that’s what he always seemed to do. He always seemed to play his best when the big moments arose.

Q: Why do you wear No. 33?A: That was my favorite number growing up just because Patrick Roy had worn it. I got lucky that my time with the Rangers, no one had it in the organization, so I devised to take it.

Q: Describe the experience visiting Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.A: That was a tough one. There were I think six or seven of us that drove down after the tragedy had happened, and there was an eerie feeling as soon as you drove into the town. We had to park quite a few blocks away, there were so many TV trucks and reporters and stuff like that lining the streets. We walked through the town and up by the school where they had the memorials and stuff set up. It was a heartbreaking experience to be honest with you, especially being around Christmastime. They had all the Christmas trees that were donated for each child, and their families got to decorate them, you got to see all the pictures of the families and of the kids that were killed. It was heart wrenching.

Q: From your Twitter feed: “I’ll take years off my life before I take life off my years.”A: I heard it in a song, and it was just like one of those things where you kinda like live every day to the fullest. I guess. I liked it.

Q: What was Bruce Springsteen like in concert?A: I just couldn’t believe the show he could put on at his age.

Q: Favorite NYC things?A: Tao and Catch are two of my favorite restaurants there. I love the fact that you can order food 24 hours a day, you don’t have to leave your apartment. You can just jump in a cab or an Uber and go anywhere, you don’t really drive yourself around. Everything’s so convenient in New York City.

Q: Is that why you decided to live in the city?A: You never know how long you’re gonna be with a team. I feel like when I’m in New York City, might not get another chance to do that, so we wanted to make the most of it while we were here. It’s an experience so we can look back and say, “Hey, we lived in one of the best cities in the world for however many years we’re here.”

Q: What’s your golf handicap?A: Not good…probably about 18, if you shoot around 90, so we’ll say that (chuckle).

Q: But you love golf, right?A: I do love golf. It doesn’t mean I’m good at it (chuckle).

Q: Do you have a gameday routine or superstition?A: I usually try to have like the same meal — pasta, chicken, that sort of thing. Before the game, I always put everything on left to right. …I don’t know why, I’ve just always done it that way.

Q: What makes your wife Kelly the right girl for you?A: Her personality, we get along so well. She likes my sense of humor, I like hers. We complement each other well. We just have so many common interests. It didn’t take me long to know that she was the right one.

Muhammad Ali with his trainer Angelo DundeeAP

Q: Three dinner guests?A: Will Ferrell, Muhammad Ali, Roger Federer.

Q: Favorite meal?A: Steak and potatoes.

Q: What’s the level of confidence that this team can win a Cup?A: There’s so many good teams in the league that it’s tough to go all the way, but obviously we feel that we have a good group of guys that can potentially make a run at it. Hopefully, we’ll be able to win the extra three games this year that we didn’t win last year.

Q: What do you like best about this team?A: I’d say our character. During the stretch that I’ve been playing, we’ve been down quite a few times going into the third period, or we’d be tied going into the third period and give up an early goal, but the character on this team, we never give up, we never hang our head, we always know that someone in our room can make that big play and step up and get a big goal for us. This team never gives up no matter what.